Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Holy Homers

I guess it was just the latest case in point why all of us — from players to media to fans to anyone — enjoy coming to the ballpark so much every day. You just never know what you’re going to see.

For instance, when I got into my car yesterday afternoon and drove to Fenway, it never occured to me that I might see four consecutive home runs get it. That was simply wild.

I think what added to it was the stage — Red Sox-Yankees. Prime time Sunday night on ESPN no less. And the majestic way those baseballs left the yard.

Manny absolutely crushed that ball. I seriously don’t know if it has landed yet. Over everything by the Volvo sign? You don’t see that too much. J.D. Drew put one over the Sox bullpen and made it look easy. Then Lowell smashed one into the Monster and Varitek delivered a screaming liner. It all seemed to happen so quickly, which, of course, it did.

These Red Sox-Yankees games dating back to 2003 have been mind-boggling. Is there anything we haven’t seen yet? I’m sure we’ll see something new this weekend in New York. Don’t we always?

Not much in the way of fresh news today. Coco (oblique) is out of the lineup again, but it doesn’t sound serious at all. Look for him to be back in there tomorrow.

Wake tonight. Can he stay hot? It’s a summer night here at Fenway that’s for sure.

I always worry when the Sox are on a roll and have to play a team who is going downhill fast. The Jays are better than what they have been accomplishing on the field even with all of their injuries. I am not worried about Wakefield, but I do worry about Ohka. He had a great start last week, and the Sox always struggle against a pitcher that they have hardly faced.

Thank you for all the compliments guys, I appreciate it. Just trying to put things in perspective but it seems like everybody here is more realistic about the series than even Yankees fans are about their own team.

Parts, Phil Hughes will make his major league debut on Thursday night against the Bluejays. Not sure if that is longterm but I hope not. The reason I say this is Karstens, Igawa and Wang will pitch in that order against the Red Sox this weekend. Hope that helps.

One more thing: Yes, the Yankees can definitely mash. The Sox looked determined to achieve what was theirs this weekend.

Important to note, Posada, Damon and Matsui all missed time this series. It may have been an absolute fluke that none of the three best on the Sox had their stuff at home where they usually excel, but I doubt it. This offense can even improve. Though A Rod will cool off, I at least am excited over how much more mashing this team can do.

Its scary how good the Yankees lineup is. Even without Matsui, Posada, and Damon that lineup is still the best in baseball. When they get healthy 1-8 IS an all-star team. And how much you want to bet George picks up a first basemen before the trade deadline. Perhaps Helton. ****, that would be **** for any pitching staff, no matter how good.

I, too, figured Crisp banged up his oblique stretching for A-Rod’s home run ball and tumbling over the fence, but the NESN announcers said that wasn’t the case. Crisp should be back tomorrow. Dustin Pedroia is playing a great game. His two-run double was nice to see, as was the double play he just turned by fielding a sharply hit one-skip grounder off the bat of Vernon Wells.

Well there’s some great news: it will be Wakefield’s turn to pitch next Saturday, and guess who just happens to have tickets for that game? Yep, my brother wanted to see a game in Yankee Stadium before they move, so he’s flying east from Cinci on Friday and off we go, into the heart of the beast. $70 apiece on StubHub for tickets with an original face value of $19, but what are you gonna do?

My wife is absolutely mortified that I’m going to wear my Sox jersey and hat to the game. I think she thinks we’re going to get beat up or something. I ain’t worried.

I’m psyched to see Wake pitch. I hope the Sox keep exercising their eternal options on him until he’s 58 years old. This world needs more knuckleballers.

Pedroia should not be starting at 2nd. Yes he saved runs in yesterday’s game, but today he had two chances at the plate, once with two on, and once with the bases loaded to really do something and he did nothing but walk the first time and get out the second time. I normally don’t have anything against a guy working the count and earning a walk, but when you’re only hitting .190 to begin with, you need to be doing a **** of a lot more than just earning the walk. Cora is just as good, if not slightly better defensively and the man gets hits! And he gets timely hits as well, a bloop single or a double here and there. Put him in more games!!

And let’s not even start with Wily Mo. I understand Coco is a bit banged up, and in no way should Wily Mo ever play right field in Fenway, but I’m getting sick of watching Wily Mo strike out. Get a little patience at the plate and maybe you’ll find yourself on base a little more. He’s not Manny or Papi; he hasn’t proven that he’ll get hot eventually. He needs to prove himself now, when it counts. And yet, he’s pretty much done jack snot for us both at the plate and in the field.

Rob, just don’t act like a ***** and you’ll be fine, just like a yankee fan at fenway. It is fine to root for your team, it is fine to wear supporting colors (I wore four layers of yankees gear when i went to fenway), but if you start cursing off drunken fans or heckling a section of them, you’re asking for a black eye and a prison trip.

Thanks, rsox_34 and Vince. I have yet to even come close to getting in a fight in over 20 years. My parents taught me manners, and taught me to walk away from a idiot who wants to fight. No ballgame is worth a busted nose. As much as we love our teams and the rivalry, it’s just baseball.

Rsox, he might have done that tonight, but one hit in one game does not change my opinion of him, especially considering that those were his first RBIs of the season.
If he had really broken out tonight and had multiple hits and really capitalized on the chances he had (the two I mentioned in my previous post) maybe my impression of him might slowly start to change. But not one double.

Fisher, he got that double in the bases loaded situation you described. And Pedroia is starting to turn around as he’s had two consecutive multi-hit games. Also, driving in runs isn’t what the sox are looking for out of him. What they want is for him to get on base, which he has been doing with great plate discipline. He might have a .200 average, but he has an OBP over .325. You know who else who was batting .200 for most of April? Mark Loretta last year and that worked out pretty good didn’t it. Let’s not call for someones benching so early in the season, especially when the player in question is starting to get out of his slump.

Megan, I don’t share your opinion about Dustin Pedroia. What’s the use of having top prospects graduate to the majors if you don’t give them a chance? It’s only April 24. The guy doesn’t even have 100 plate appearances. He has often hit the ball hard when he has made outs. And he has swung the bat well the last couple games. And his defense is excellent. He will be a solid major leaguer. Next season, Jacoby Ellsbury will arrive, and we’ll have three Sox farm system products starting – Ellsbury, Pedroia and Youkilis. That’s exciting. Alex Cora is certainly a valuable part of this team – as a utility player who can fill in at second, short and third.

Sorry Megan, but it seems you’re the only one who wants to bench our young players. Not that I don’t agree with you in regards to both Pena and Pedroia’s average, but there’s nothing to show that they’ll be in an extended slump into late May.

Pedroia will come around and is showing signs of breaking out soon enough. diehard said it best with the Mark Loretta comparison from last year. Benching will only hurt his production. Plus he plays very good defense. Also, Cora is a utility player. While I’d love to see him more often to give some of our other IF regulars a break, he’s just that: a utility player. Playing everyday on a consistent basis is not something that he’s used to. All pro sports players are creatures of habit and Cora is no exception to that.

As for Pena, yeah I have been screaming “OMGWTF” seeing him strike-out so much lately, but he’s got raw talent that NEVER got minor league experience on a regular basis. He came in directly to the majors and as such, he can’t simply get sent down to the minors to make adjustments; he’d have to clear waivers and I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody else plucked him off of them before he got to the minors. Plus, he’s young so there’s great upside to him in the long run. While not to get excuses, he’s coming from the NL and with his raw, young talent, making the adjustment to more breaking pitches in the AL is taking longer for him.

With our record, I wouldn’t call for benching anytime soon. Jeff said exactly what I’ve felt: there’s no point in having top prospects hit the majors if they get no chances.

I know that I’m a few days late for saying this, but it kept botjhering me. Remember on Sunday’s game, right before manny started the 4 straight homers, ESPN showed a video clip from last thursday. This clip showed a BLONDE Manny homerin off of AJ Burnett. However, Manny homered off of another pitcher with black and red hair. I just wanted to get that off my chest and prove that the ESPN video clip was a year late and a year wrong.

I thought the exact same thing dj when I saw the clip of 2006 Manny. Also when they were hitting the consecutive homers, they showed Epstien saying Oh my god and they made it look like he did this after Varitek had homered when really he was saying it after Drew went back to back with Manny. ESPN has some problems when it comes to those broadcasts.

Also, I see Youk is out of the lineup, is he hurt or simply just a day off?

Briefly, I was starting to like Tavarez, when he was doing better in the spring. But now I’m over it. Bring on Hansack!
Has anyone noticed, one complete turn thru the rotation with zero quality starts. Hope these are the fluke off days Jeff was talking about and not some new trend.

I have to agree with you arnieschmo. This was the first time each sox starter didn’t pitch well at all. AWW man, Wily Mo just made an error in center field. He is definitely not the best defensive CF i have seen. If you ask m, i’d rather have Coco in right now.

That game was not how you draw it up on paper. Minimal offense, no starting pitching and poor defense, but all teams have about a handful of those per season and that was our first. I fully expect Schill to dominate tomorrow night much like he did that Sunday in Texas when we were struggling as well. The team appeared to still be a little hungover from the Yankee sweep. Speaking of them, despite this loss, it is almost as joyous to look in the standings and see New York in last place.

Can we please remove Tavarez from the rotation permanently? I would prefer to bring up someone young with potential vs. a washed up bum like Tavarez. I guess there was no wrong answer going back to my Papelbon in the rotation vs. closer question. Tavarez is as bad (8.36 ERA) as Papelbon is good. Someone mentioned a week or so back that its much easier to find a #5 starter than a closer… but I can probably list 10 COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSERS that we have thrown out there in the #5 spot since last year that pretty much give us ZERO chance of winning the game. If you haven’t noticed… we’re not like the Yankees who can throw out a Aaron Small, get some run support, and have him go 10-0. If you happen to know where they have legitimate #5 starters… please let us know.

Well, whenever I’ve played any kind of sport I felt that if you’re going to lose do a good job of it. No close losses to haunt your dreams. The Sox took care of that tonight, all right.
You got it rizzo, tomorrow’s a better day. Don’t jinx us by speaking of the devil! lol

I think Tavarez will get a chance to redeem himself Sunday against the Yankees, but if the Sox brass think otherwise, the candidates to make the start are Devern Hansack (1-1, 1.69 ERA in three starts, not counting tonight’s outing, where he lost and threw four wild pitches), Kason Gabbard (2-1, 4.41 ERA in three starts; most of his bad numbers were accumulated in one ineffective outing), Runelvys Hernandez (0-1, 0.68 ERA in three starts) and David Pauley (0-0, 1.00 ERA in three appearances, two of which were starts). Though he was not as sharp as usual, Hansack did start tonight, so his next outing is slated for Sunday. Will it be in Pawtucket or at Yankee Stadium. My guess is Pawtucket.

My point was that if Papelbon wasn’t our closer, a replacement closer would have probably blown 2 games. Tavarez has 2 losses and an ERA over 8. We would have had a great chance to win those games with Papelbon as the starter. My estimate is we’d have the same record at this point.

I’d be fine with giving Hansack a shot. Can’t be much worse than 8.36 ERA. I’d also like to see Lester pitching here soon. He’s pitching right now in the minors… the guy beat cancer… are we really afraid that he’s going to get hit hard his first few times out and lose confidence? Can he be worse than Tavarez?

We all know Lester is a courageous person, and we all know we need a fifth starter, but bringing Lester back to early is a bad idea. for those who have seen what chemo does to a person understand it takes a little while to recover. So we need to give him a few more starts (at least 2)and then we can see where he stands. I am sure he will be back and productive soon enough though.

rayman, i’m the one who said that it’s easier to find a 5th starter than a closer. And i maintain it. What i didn’t say is that they should give that job to Tavarez. The guy is not a good pitcher. He wasn’t back then and he’s still not. But, show of hands, who knew that he would’ve faced a Cy Young winner on 2 of his 3 starts so far ?

Still, i don’t think he’s the best guy and i never did. You want names ? Gabbard, Hansack and maybe Snyder. Not to mentioned that it’s a temporary job since we all know that it’s Lester’s job as soon as he returns. By the way, good points guys about Lester’s stamina. Let’s be careful, here.

So yes, it’s harder to find a closer. I prefer not to think of the massacre last weekend against the Yanks with Tavarez on the mound in the 9th. You think a so-so closer would’ve blown only 2 saves ? Come on !

I think that the majority of the people here remember my feelings about Tavar”EZ” from last season, when I dubbed him Senor Ez. I thought he was awful then and though I have refrained from commenting about him until now, I still think he stinks and needs to go! Why is it that Tito and Theo can’t see how bad he is?? Before the former Ez brother digs a deeper hole for us, they need to either send him down, trade him, or give him his outright release (depending on the terms of his contract). Shoo, go a way VAMOOSE!!!

If Todd Jones and Huston Street are mediocre, then Tavarez is really, really bad. Only Pap is better than those two in our roster. I know Jones is not your typical power closer but he’s savvy. Maybe Oki will be a candidate one day, but it’s too early to say now. But hey, you got your own opinion and i have mine. That’s what blogs are for.

I wouldn’t call Huston Street mediocre – he is one of the game’s top closers – and Todd Jones, though not overpowering, is effective. That said, I agree that it is much easier to fina a reliable starter (especially a back-of-the-rotation starter) than it is a lights-out closer like Jonathan Papelbon. I think Papelbon would be an 18-20 game winner as a starter, he is that good, but the Sox need him more as a closer. Guys like Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are on the way (Lester this season and Buchholz either next season or in 2009). Devern Hansack looks like a guy who could either be an effective back-of-the-rotation starter, or a solid reliever. And Kason Gabbard is a left-hander in the Jamie Moyer mold who can win 10-12 games in a No. 5 role. So, yes, with the depth in the Sox farm system, it is easier to find a No. 5 starter than a closer who is so dominating that he can overpower the best hitters in the game when the game is on the line.

rsox_34: according to the Gameday Lineup, it’s WMP:: maybe one day that will stand for Weapon of Mass Production, but we’re still waiting for that!!lol
OUR SOX NEED TO GET BACK ON TRACK HERE, LET’S GO REDSOX!!!!!

ps, it’ll be nice to see Kev-Lar again, I don’t know why but I’ve just gotta like the guy. You know not like that guy who used to play CF for us. Wasn’t his name Jimmy, no wait Johnny something or other. LOL

WM is the starting CF tonight. The announcers said that Coco will not play tomorrow, and they will revisit his situation on Friday. They said if they can’t play coco, he’s heading to the DL. Alex Cora launched a homerun to give us a 1 run lead. Did anyone notice that schilling looks like he’s tryin to go back to that 04 sox look with his haircut?

Wily Mo is starting to get under my skin. I mean literally EVERY at bat he is striking out. Just give me some contact, you know they’re not throwing you cheese so look offspeed and make contact. I agree with you rsox, I never thought I’d say it, but where’s Coco

WMP is definitely trying way too hard at the plate and not hard enough in center field. Traity Traiterson, huh?? good name, though I kind of like Johnny “Gone-lately”. You know I really really liked him but I’ve never booed him whether in Fenway or at YS. I think he did what he felt he had to do even though he said “he’d never play in Yankee Pinstripes”. But I will always have really good memories of Kevin, Billy, A-Gon,Mark Loretta and please don’t get me going about My Trot!!

The mark of a good starter? Striking out guys to end the inning with runner(s) on base and Schill has done it 2 innings in a row. So far that stopper thing is going well, but we need more runs off Wild Thing Cabrera.

Looks like more and more rain is coming down in Baltimore. Let’s hope we can finish this game b4 it starts to really drench!!! If not, let’s hope schilling can give us 1 or 2 more good innings and hope for the rain out!!!

Not sure about Crisp. Perhaps Ian would know since he is in the clubhouse. I do know that oblique injuries are not minor. Akinori Iwamura will miss four to six weeks after injuring his last night against the Yankees. I’m concerned about Lugo and Pena. They look terrible at the plate. They keep leaving several runners stranded. The Sox offense is showing signs of heating up, but Sox hitters are still leaving way too many runners on base. Though we have a great rotation, there will be off nights, and the Sox need the bats to pick up the slack.

Arnie, we have Edgar Martinez, Javier Lopez, Craig Hansen and Bryce Cox in the minors. I think all four will be in the Sox bullpen next year. Lopez will likely return at some point this season, and Martinez might even see some major league action if injuries arise. The Sox bullpen is decent as it stands, but I like the idea of Papelbon, Okajima, Donnelly, Martinez, Cox, Hansen and Lopez in the pen. Hansen is throwing the ball well in Triple-A. Delcarmen is not.

Wow talk about one long AB with Big Papi. Bloop single, reminds me of ALCS Game 5…ahh memories. =)

I do have to admit that Lugo (who is KILLING ME in fantasy) doesn’t look good at the plate whatsoever. Same goes for Pena but there’s a huge experience factor between the two. Honestly, Pena needs lots of time with the hitting coach and lots of BP to get some sort of groove back. Same with Lugo although not so much.

Give Crisp all the time off he needs is my opinion. Yes Pena will K himself a bunch in Crisp’s absence, but he needs to find himself at the plate and he can only do that with ABs (and practice of course).

Has the idea of swapping Youk and Lugo’s spots in the lineup been thrown around yet?

Papelbon threw 13 pitches. He’ll be available tomorrow, as will Okajima and Donnelly – the Sox three best relievers. Dice-K will adjust and pitch more effectively, too. Tomorrow should be a low-scoring game.

THAT was a good game!! Beckett’s looking sharp this year.
***…? Wily MO? How do you do that? I watched last nights game and he looked like he slept in his uniform under a bridge; was totally befuddled at the plate, and tonite GS, win the game!!! Way to make ‘em pay for walking Tek.

I agree rizzo, I was hoping they’d give Pap one more day off.

Anyone remember last year at this time the Sox were winning but with late heroics after the starters or bullpen had given up the lead. This year they may come from behind sometimes but it is not after the pitchers have blown a lead. That’s what I like about this year’s team. They get a lead and they keep it. Very encouraging. Keeping my fingers crossed that I have not jinxed them. Knock wood. I’ll say some Hail Mary’s after work. Hire a Rabbi to give a dispensation. GO SOX!!!

Now that you mention it Jeff, Oki and Donnelly can close. But they also may be needed to pitch an important 8th. It’s great to have the three of them out in the bullpen. Almost makes it a 7 inning game for the opponent. 8th and 9th belong to US.

You know I had this real nice post going and when I spell checked it my computer crashed. Let me try from memory…
Jon-Bon, on the mound, has been described in a lot of different ways, here’s my take: POETRY IN MOTION. He just makes throwing that kind of heat look VERY easy.

Thank you WMP for coming through, although be it “FINALLY”.

Thank you Sox for a Great Game.

I said last week that I feel sorry for other Baseball Fans (not Yankee, not RedSox). They don’t know the feeling of the greatest rivalry in sports, world wide. ..And here we go again. This time in the house that… blah blah blah. Once again I’ll say that anything can and will happen this weekend. Who knows?, only heaven knows.

I know I sound like a real RAH-RAH, but it’s going to take every voice in the RedSox Nation to drown out those New York accents, so come on let me here you: LET’S GO REDSOX LET’S GO!!!

You now, I love this space where I can be with my fellow RSN’ers. You all know I’m a “trot fan” so I went over to what is the ONLY Indians Blog (KRISS FOXX ROXX) to see what they are sayiNg about our #1 dirt dawg. But ddanm I’m the only one who posted there. I asked Ian about this and I said that I think that there is really no one left in Cleveland (maybe everyone in Ohio has been abducted by aliens or they are still reeling from their Football AND roundball losses this pAst year). He didn’t say that he thought I was right, but..anyway… I love you guys!!!! We are always here, and it gives me a real “warm fuzzy” feeling to know I’ve always got someone here to talk to.. Thanks to all Nationers and Vince. Maybe one day I can include him in the Nationers message…… well maybe not, but we love him any way!! THANKS TO ALL!

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